INCUMBENT Kuala Kangsar MP Datuk Mastura Mohd Yazid – who had been snubbed from Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate list for the forthcoming 15th General Election (GE15) – has raised the question about the lack of women representation.
“The promise [was to] field 30% women [candidates]. However, there isn’t a single UMNO Wanita candidate in the list for parliamentary seats in Perak and Negri Sembilan,” the caretaker deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Function) was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.
Mastura was referring to the pledge by BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi earlier this month that in addition to fielding at least 70% “new faces” for GE15, the coalition will also try to meet the demand that 30% of BN candidates are women.
Of the 160 BN candidates announced for GE15 last night by Zahid, it has been noted that only 18 (11.25%) are women.
Mastura was among the incumbent BN MPs dropped from the coalition’s line-up for GE15; she will be replaced by Kuala Kangsar UMNO chief Datuk Maslin Sham Razman, who is also the incumbent Bukit Chandan state assemblyman.
According to the Berita Harian report Mastura’s exclusion from the list could be a result of her lukewarm relationship with the Kuala Kangsar UMNO division.
The strained relationship between Mastura and Maslin was reportedly so apparent that almost every function organised for locals in the constituency attended by Mastura was not attended by Maslin, and vice versa.
In fact, Mastura had also reportedly given the Kuala Kangsar UMNO division’s GE15 machinery launch on May 22 a miss. The event was officiated by incumbent state menteri besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad, with Maslin among those who were present during the ceremony.
The clash between Mastura and Maslin is believed to have been ignited when Maslin, in his capacity as the UMNO division chief, reminded Mastura in August last year to respect the UMNO Supreme Council’s decision to retract support for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration.
While 12 UMNO MPs withdrew support for Muhyiddin, Mastura, who was appointed deputy minister by Muhyiddin, kept mum on the matter.
The 61-year-old Mastura, who hails from Rembau, Negri Sembilan, won the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seat on June 18, 2016, following the death of her husband, incumbent MP Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar in a helicopter crash in Sebuyau, Sarawak on May 5 the same year.
She later retained the seat in the 2018 general election on a BN ticket with 12,102 votes, defeating PKR’s Dr Ahmad Termizi Ramli and PAS’s Drs Khalil Idham Lim. – Nov 2, 2022
